THE REASONING POWER OF ANIMALS. 
If a collection could be made of the thousands of 
accounts that have been written and published in 
which animals have been described as exhibiting undeni- 
able proof of sound and good reason, there would still 
remain in the minds of a very large number of persons a 
grave doubt as to the veracity or accuracy of the observers 
and writers of these statements. It is a natural conse- 
quence for persons fond of animals, and who keep pets, to 
attribute to them an amount of intelligence which no 
other person would be able to discover in them. It, there- 
fore, appears to me to be simply a matter of individual 
opinion in all cases of the kind, and there remains, according 
to my idea, only those persons who are well acquainted 
with animals, and who have many opportunities of arriving 
at a correct decision, that are in a position to offer a fair 
and impartial judgment upon the subject. The numerous 
instances which have come under my observation during 
my long acquaintance and constant attention to the wants 
and habits of animals, have enabled me to satisfy myself 
beyond all doubt, that nearly all animals possess the power 
of reasoning, such power differing in degree from man 
until, in the lower forms of animal life, no vestige can 
possibly be traced. 
There can be no doubt that in those animals immediately 
associated with man, observing his habits and reqitirements, 
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